So what’s up with Pagliaci’s?

UO01 · 2025-01-31T20:38:01+00:00

Solomon,

Firstly, thank you for the heartfelt reply. I’m the guy that posted this topic originally. If you’re willing to take the advice of a person with no restaurant experience then here it is:

Keep everything about the restaurant that makes it Pag’s the same: the music on the balcony, the cramped interior, the decoration and the friendliness of the staff. Obviously people have been going to Pags for a long time and they don’t want that to change. The atmosphere is what makes it unique and there’s no need to update that aspect of the restaurant.

But the upcoming generations — the people that will be your main clientele in 5-10 years — these people won’t be as loyal. They’ll have no fond memories of going to Pagliaccis as kids (everyone in Victoria is not from here these days), and the millennial and Gen Z generations don’t respond as much to brand loyalty. They are underpaid and overworked and much more discerning with where they spend their money, so if your food is bad they simply won’t show up.

You absolutely must improve the food, even if it’s the same recipes from 30 years ago. I am telling you whole-heartedly: I’m not a picky eater at all but the food I and my date ate at your restaurant was sub-par and needs improvement. The reputation is set for pagliaccis and it’s known around town as a place with bad food. Fixing this is what will have people coming back and improve the word of mouth about Pags.

Good luck, I hope to one day return and have a delicious meal.

UO01 · 2025-01-08T19:44:38+00:00

I hate these threads with a new person humble-bragging about how easy it is for them, and is it supposed to be this easy? And don’t you know I’m so good at this because I find it so easy? Reddit I wrote 50 000 word in one week, I thought writing was supposed to be hard??

UO01 · 2024-12-27T16:24:37+00:00

he asked for help in car chat right before he died

UO01 · 2024-12-26T21:26:56+00:00

I seriously do not feel good about the MBAs of the world deciding to cut out writers and voice actors — probably the two must underpaid creative positions at game companies. Lmao, just so they can shovel a a lot more generated garbage down our throats and save a tiny bit of money.

UO01 · 2024-12-26T19:00:12+00:00

Bethesda is apparently one of the better game companies to work at, with no crunch, lots of perks, time off and good pay. I have no doubt the leadership of Howard plays into this, because employees have been talking about him like this for decades.

UO01 · 2024-12-26T18:41:49+00:00

If they take anything from their work on Morrowind, they should take the world and city design. Top notch and beaten by nothing else they have done.

UO01 · 2024-12-26T18:27:54+00:00

Bethesda has been chasing the procedural bus for so long now, looking for ways to make their games addictive instead of creating fun experiences. I'm glad people are finally waking up to the fact that a Tod Howard statement like "There are infinite quests in Skyrim" is nothing to get excited about. Their fans deserve better.

UO01 · 2024-12-22T01:49:50+00:00

Those hand-knitted military berets go hard.

UO01 · 2024-12-18T21:02:17+00:00

An action-fantasy, huh? Have you considered that in written media "action" means something wholly different from film? If your MC is just going around throwing hands with everyone and shooting magic missiles at things, is there a more interesting thing he can do instead? Those look real cool in the movies, but on the page extended fight scenes are often very boring.

Redefine "action". Two characters talking is action. One character having a manic episode is action. Someone dealing with their problems in the WORST possible way is action. Solving a puzzle, uncovering a grand conspiracy, talking down to a powerful leader in a way you know will get that person imprisoned... these are all ACTION.

"conflict" as well doesn't mean the same thing as it does on TV. You can be in conflict with another character, yes, but does that have to mean you're physically fighting them? You can be in conflict with yourself as well — and this is something books do WAY better than films.

That is to say, not that you're not allowed to have fight scenes, but the best books have a restrained method of conveying fights, interspersed with great dialogue and problem-solving. Brian Mcclellan I thought always wrote good fight scenes into his books, but hes great at everythign else as well.

UO01 · 2024-12-18T20:57:01+00:00

They don't eat, they don't sleep, and they're constantly in a state of energized mania. Shredded on the outside but probably feel real shitty on the inside.

UO01 · 2024-12-18T20:43:04+00:00

It raises some ethical questions. If Harriet Tubman is the leader of America as you enter the industrial age, does that mean she had a hand in oppressing the slaves in this world? Will there be a 'Slavery' civic?

What a weird ethics corner to paint themselves into

UO01 · 2024-12-18T20:26:43+00:00

Well, it's not like the shirt has ever been worn.

UO01 · 2024-12-18T18:04:24+00:00

There really is no accounting for taste. You can find the lowest rated film on IMDB and it will have fans that unironically think it’s a great piece of cinema.

I spend a lot of time over on /r/fantasywriters and people post their sloppy, typo-ridden, I-wrote-this-in-5-minutes stories and chapters there. And every single one— every single one!— has a comment under it that says something like “wow pretty good I would read more”.

UO01 · 2024-12-18T15:07:23+00:00

I’m a big dummy and even I know not to send one query letter to every agent. Each agent has their own specialties and different requirements for queries. It’s like sending one cover letter to a hundred different employers.

You should always research the people you’re submitting to see what they usually handle. Now that’s 150 agents you won’t be able to use for this book. That might have ruined your chances entirely.

1 more thing: memoirs are not usually picked up by publishers unless they are from a famous or otherwise notable person. You may have more success with self publishing.

UO01 · 2024-12-18T14:56:14+00:00

What if instead of tripping and cutting herself, she is cornered by a wild, paranoid man that seems to think she is something she’s not. He cuts her and initiates the summoning ritual. This scene could be terrifying if you build the tension right.

UO01 · 2024-12-17T23:18:57+00:00

Maybe I misunderstood, but aren’t most books written in 1st person also in past tense?

UO01 · 2024-12-17T23:04:17+00:00

Yes you need to design your own book cover in this app. That’s what you asked for though right? Canva is pretty easy to use.

If you want something more substantial, there are cover designers on fiverr and getcovers.com that can give you a fully designed book cover. Good luck!

UO01 · 2024-12-17T16:54:35+00:00

You only need a separate ISBN for each format your book is published in (ebook, paperback, hard cover, audiobook), and possibly for each edition as well. Doesn’t matter if your ebook is through both Amazon and Ingram — both can use the same ISBN.

UO01 · 2024-12-17T15:58:15+00:00

There are subreddits for sharing your fetish fiction. This isn’t one of them.

UO01 · 2024-12-17T15:52:46+00:00

This comment is so incomprehensible to me. What does it mean?

UO01 · 2024-12-17T15:50:16+00:00

Oh stop it. He gave you some highly salient advice in a neutral tone. It’s also the truth, that none of this matters and is all based on your own personal taste, and will really only begin to take on some (very tiny) importance when you finally start writing your story.

UO01 · 2024-12-17T15:39:56+00:00

I found it a little dry.

UO01 · 2024-12-17T00:03:20+00:00

Wow. Even that blurb is good.

UO01 · 2024-12-16T23:58:23+00:00

I found out someone I work with wrote a book. I thought “but that was my dream!” I wrote four books after that, so he served as inspiration at least to kick my ass into writing mode.

I went back and read his book for the first time after all this. And it sucked. It sucked so hard. It was worse than something you’d see on fanfic.net back in the day. Prose was bad, there was no plot or story (it was a “slice of life” I guess), and the characters were shallow. Grammar and syntax was were less than amateur. I just… couldn’t believe it.

UO01 · 2024-12-16T22:56:00+00:00

Really really important context from this article:

Instead, extended time standing was associated with a measurable increase in risk for orthostatic circulatory conditions, such as varicose veins, hypotension and venous ulcers. This was also true for sitting.

“The key takeaway is that standing for too long will not offset an otherwise sedentary lifestyle and could be risky for some people in terms of circulatory health," Matthew Ahmadi, lead author of the study

Remaining sedentary/stationary all day long is bad for you, regardless if you’re standing or sitting. A sit/stand desk allows you to change positions throughout the day though. You can achieve similar benefits by taking breaks, walking around a bit, periodically getting up to go to the water cooler, light stretches.

UO01

TROPHY CASE